Centre College choirs present fall concert, Nov. 20

The culminating fall concert by the Centre Choirs will be Friday, Nov. 20, at 8 p.m., at the Presbyterian Church of Danville. This eagerly anticipated annual concert will be conducted by Assistant Professor of Music Johann Van Niekerk in his first public performance at Centre College.

Johann Van Niekerk

The College Choir, made up of talented student singers from across campus, will perform historical works spanning five centuries by Leonarda, Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Bohm.

“The performance on Friday will be very high artistic quality,” Van Niekerk says.

The auditioned Centre Singers have a demanding repertoire of contemporary composers, including Alexander, Brunner, Dove, Gjeilo and O’Reilly.

“I gave the Centre Singers a very challenging program, and they have really blown me away,” Van Niekerk says. “Working with them has been exhilarating. I’ve also been very fortunate to work with an incredible accompanist, College Organist Zachary Klobnak.”

The theme of the concert involves life lessons taken from planetary movement.

“The repertoire centers around questions of isolation, connection and attraction among a bigger setting of stars, rain and planets,” Van Niekerk says. “It deals with human emotion on a local scale and also on a galactic scale.”

Music major Abby Fowler ’16 will conduct “Sun Moon Stars Rain,” composed by David L. Brunner and based on the poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town” by e.e. cummings.

“I feel honored to be given this opportunity but also nervous because it requires a lot more thinking than I’ve ever had to do while performing,” Fowler says. “However, this piece, with the music and text combined, is so much fun to conduct. The choir and Dr. Van Niekerk have both been incredibly helpful throughout this process by correcting me when necessary but also building me up when I need it.”